March 17, 2008

Cloth Diapers: 6 Month Review

I had to go read my one month review to see if there's anything new to tell you in my 6 months of cloth diapering. There's not, really, except I bought too much stuff. I only use about half of what I bought and I'm happy. We are living with 18 prefolds and 5 used prorap covers (size medium) and all the other things are going to waste. If we are having a particularly poopy time and my covers are taking a hit, I may use one of my Happy Heiny pocket diapers, but I would be fine without them.* Once, when C's bowels exploded and I didn't know FOR HOURS, her butt got red and I used my fleece liners for a day to keep the diaper cream from staining the prefolds.

*And, frankly, they leak unless I stuff them with a prefold. I would not recommend that brand. That said, anyone want to buy 5 gently used Happy Heinys in size medium? Inserts included!

Speaking of stains, back at one month I wrote that my diapers were stained, but Summer bolstered my confidence and I bleached them despite dire warnings from every single how-to-cloth-diaper site. For some reason, since then there has been no staining. They are as white as the driven snow. Maybe the diapers decided I mean business. Just last week I opened my second container of detergent when the first one ran out. Still washing twice a week and doing a cold rinse/soak (often overnight following the last diaper change of the day) followed by a hot/cold cycle the next morning.

I had one episode where my diapers and covers smelled not-so-fresh. I ran them through an extra wash with no detergent and then added a little vinegar to the rinse. They've been fine since.

I'm still using one disposable at night. I have been through 2 containers of Luvs since I started cloth diapering a couple weeks after C was born and just opened the third.

I bought 5 large used prorap covers for about $5/each off ebay, so I'm set on diapers till C reaches 35 lbs. Since L is almost 4 and is 38 lbs, I sort of expect C to be potty-trained by then and not need any larger covers. I should be done buying diapers.

Oh, except a snappi. I will probably pick up a couple of those (ballpark price $5 for 2). Since I stopped cloth diapering E and L when they were around 9 months old, I didn't have to get good at putting 2 pieces on a moving child. I think the snappi will make it a lot easier when diaper changes morph into wrestling matches.

So, cloth diapering from 13 lbs until she is approximately 24 lbs (if the prorap claims are to be believed):

I still use my wetbag for my diaper bag ($20) and pail liner ($15). Water/electricity for 2 extra loads/week (no idea and not going to figure it out.*) Not bad.

*And, frankly, until I start throwing out MY underwear after each use, I will never believe that the water used to wash cloth diapers is significant. If it were, we would have a lot more disposable clothes.

We are about to enter into the land of solid poop and things may change. I will probably use my fleece liners to make it easier to dump poop in the toilet. No, there will be no swishing in the toilet and I am sticking to that. I'll toss the solid bits in the toilet and the rest will come out in the wash. Considering ALL her poop (except what is on the wipe) goes in the wash now and it's fine, I am not worried. I might buy an extra piece of fleece and cut it up to make more liners (I only have 6). What does fleece cost? I bet I can pick a couple pieces out of the remnants bin for less than $5. I read a tip somewhere that you can cut an extra baby blanket up to make liners. Don't we all have a zillion blankets from our showers or is it just me?

And so it goes in my world of diapers. I'm pleased with our choices (although like I said, I didn't need to buy so much) and don't feel that cloth diapers add significantly to my workload of 3 kids + part-time nurse + full-time wife and mom. Last time I mentioned that it is not an all-or-nothing decision and I stand by that. I also told you that I am not here to debate about cloth, just to tell you what I'm doing and what I might do differently. Drop me a comment or email if there's something I can explain in more detail or a question I didn't address. I'll do another review around a year.

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Comments

hey there,

i'm a little ahead of you (just by 3 months) but we're already firmly (ha) in the land of solid poop. we've been trying out rice paper liners (reusable a few times and flushable too) but the jury is still out.

yes, it makes it easier to lift out poop but on the other hand, you still have to keep buying them. i think i'll be cutting up some receiving blankets (yes! i have a ton!) this week and seeing if that's any easier.

i'm with you on the no-swishing thing. i don't think it's necessary - OH and for any stains (should you ever have that problem again) we swear by oxyclean. they have a special baby kind but i think that's a racket - we just get the regular kind and throw it in with the tide.

thanks for bringing up the baby-wrestling thing too. i'm wondering if we'll want to move onto a one-piece diaper once she's a little more twisty. she's already impatient when it comes to the snaps on the mother-ease diapers and covers we're using now. then again, i reeeeally like the diapers (and they're paid for) so we'll see. maybe i'll just invest in some leather restraints...

thanks for the update - it's always good to read about other cloth-diaper experiences. :)

Sounds good to me. I only swish diapers when they're completely hideous and won't shake off and I don't want all that yuck in the pail for 4 or 5 days (Leo pees in the potty a lot but only poops in diapers, so we go up to 5 or 6 days between loads now). Probably once a week I swish. He's usually pretty obvious that he's pooping, so as long as I change him right away, it isn't squished into the diaper.

Cool. Reading this makes me kinda regret I never tried cloth diapering. At the time I thought it would be too daunting while working and going to school and dealing with daycare. I had an all-or-nothing mindset, though. It never occurred to me to do a cloth part-time. That said, I'm NOT putting my potty-trained almost-4-year-old back in diapers just to have the experience. That's what nieces and nephews are for.

I love your C posts because my son was born 9/15. We too have been cloth diapering since birth (ok, one week, we didn't come home for six days). I have WAY too much stuff, too, and thanks to my tiny European washer (I'm in Israel) we wash every day. I have 12 prefolds, 10 Thirsties covers (communication breakdown with my mom, who said she WASN'T going to buy me covers for Christmas), 5 BumGenius all-in-ones, 2 Happy Heiny pockets, and 3 BumGenius one-size pockets. In the last two weeks, all the pockets have been leaking, so we've gone back to prefolds at night. I have guilt over how saturated they get but it doesn't seem to bother him and so far we haven't had a diaper rash flare-up.

So, my questions for you are: are you going to keep cd'ing over the summer? I'm slightly worried they'll be too hot. Also, are you as annoyed as I am about the bulk? My son is wearing 9 month clothes, not only because he's enormous but because the diapers are so huge.

Thanks for this! It was very timely because we just found out we're adopting in July and I had started thinking about getting ready. My husband was trying to tell me that cloth diapering will be more expensive, so reading this post is encouraging. Did you try the flannel wipe thing? If so, how was that?

Your post could not have been more timely! I am due in June w/#4 and have been having these intense feelings that I should CD even though I have never even considered it before. I haven't even mentioned it to DH yet because he'll think I've gone off my rocker!

My main concern is that I am a bit too lazy about laundry as it is and I'm afraid I won't keep on top of things and have to run to the store for disposables anyway.

I should really just email you because all the different choices just boggle my "pg brain" strained mind....ugh.

I did a mix of cloth and disposables with my first son, and used 'sposies at night and when travelling, etc. I found them to be too temptingly easy to have around, so I swore with my second son (who turns 8 months this week) that it would be all cloth, all the time. I've stuck with that so far, and am even considering taking cloth with me on a three-day road trip next week so that I don't have to buy a package of disposables.

I use a mix of various fitteds and covers, and usually prefolds at night since I find them to be the most absorbant. However, after reading so many glowing reviews, I just bought one Happy Heiny pocket for nighttime, since he was so wet in the mornings. I stuff that thing so much, it hasn't leaked yet and it keeps his skin dry. Problem is, now I want more. So I might be interested in buying your HHs. Are they gender-neutral colours?

Apparently the HH prints are meant only for daytime use, as they will wick moisture. The solids are better for nighttime, as the cover is more waterproof. So I will only buy solid colours if I buy more. Just a thought, if yours are prints.

What else? Oh yeah. We're onto solid foods now and thankfully my guy saves up his poops and only has a big one every few days. They are revolting, but thankfully infrequent. I have paper liners but never use them. I bought a bit of fleece to cut up but haven't yet. I did have to swish a couple poopy diapers in the toilet, only because I didn't want to risk making the whole laundry load smell like that horrific substance, so thought it necessary to get rid of as much as possible.

I did like the HH for after crawling. So easy to get on! My son is now 3 and we still occassionally use them for overnights. So I have used our size L HH w/ hemp inserts for over two years on the same child. (we were part time cloth users) There is a difference between the patterned and solid color HH as far as overnight pee holding ability.